Saturday, May 31, 2008

Last year, I posted about a "peace activist" and "9/11 truth" advocate named Steve Campbell who tried to broadcast a Holocaust denial video on his local public access cable channel in Aspen, Colorado. The gist of the video, called "Judea Declares War on Germany, is Jews bad, Nazis good. He got the video from a distributor of neo-Nazi videos and literature who claims to have a network of people broadcasting his material on public access stations around the country. (Read here and here and here and here and here and here.) The station in Aspen wisely decided not to broadcast the Nazi propaganda.

Not nearly as wise is the Aspen Times. They've decided to publish an anti-Semitic diatribe written by the very confused Mr. Campbell. Their reasoning? They claim Campbell's letter begins a debate over plans by a local citizen to commemorate the Holocaust. Bennett A. Bramson of Snowmass, Colorado, stated in a letter to the Aspen Times (read here) :

Amongst my other activities, I now have two new missions in life, which I hope others will step up to join me in fulfilling:

1). Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley should have an annual community Holocaust commemoration on Yom Hashoah (unless on Shabbat), which I will gladly organize and serve as presenter, moderator or facilitator (at no cost), and;

2). We need to raise the money for a community Holocaust Memorial.

In response to this commendable wish, the editors of the Aspen Times saw fit to publish the following:

Regarding the May 3 (The Aspen Times and Aspen Daily News) by Bennett A. Bramson: Mr. Bramson, Jesus Christ had you and your ilk pegged about 2,000 years ago.

“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty, (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.’” — Revelation 2:9

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” — Matthew 23:27-28

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” — John 8:44

“Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” — Matthew 23:32-33

In his video, “Cole in Auschwitz,” David Cole states: “This tape is the first in a series of tapes covering my September 1992 trip to Europe to investigate first-hand the sites of the alleged “Final Solution.” It is by no means intended to be the last word on the Holocaust controversy, but just the opposite: I hope this tape can begin an open debate that’s long overdue. … What is fact, and what is simple wartime propaganda regarding the event we have come to know as the Holocaust.”

By the way, Cole (a Jew) later recanted after threats from the Zionist thought police.

Steve CampbellGlenwood Springs

I really don't know why the Aspen Times sees fit to publish this sort of hateful attack on Jews and Judaism. It does nothing to further the "debate" over Mr. Bramson's wish to commemorate the Holocaust. The "debate" is entirely of the Aspen Times' manufacture. Maybe they would like to elucidate their rationale for manufacturing such a debate and for publishing this gratuitous hate speech. If you wish to ask them personally, the publisher of the Aspen Times can be emailed here.

Personally, I believe that most of the citizens of Aspen, and maybe even Campbell's freiends in the "Roaring Fork Peace Coalition", don't give a roaring fork what Campbell has to say. But for some reason, the editors of the local paper continue to give him a forum to promote hate. They should stop.

UPDATE:

In 2006, the Aspen Times published an anti-Semitic letter from Campbell. This letter is still online here at the website of the Glenwood Post Independent, a sister publication of the Aspen Times . Warning: the letter features links to hate websites.

Campbell is also apparently working to publicize the writing of notorious anti-Semitic polemicist Ted Pike (read here and here).